Argentinos Juniors  0  Tigre  1

I was the victim at the end of this game of verbal bullying by supporters of the Argentinos Juniors club president,  Luis Segura.

The team had just finished their first game under the new manager,  Nestor Gorosito. It was a dismal display. At least under his predecessor,  Pedro Troglio,  they tried to play football. They failed but at least they tried. This was a shambles that made a mediocre Tigre side look at times like Barcelona.

Angry Old Men

Usually new managers are given a grace or honeymoon period during which they have the opportunity to show what they can do. Gorosito,  who was a failure the last time he managed Argentinos Juniors in 2007-08,  was the target of fan abuse almost from the kick-off.

After the final whistle the fans around me turned to hurl insults at the president,  Luis Segura,  casting aspersions, in song,  about his mother’s profession. Several of his supporters shouted back. One of two of them jumped down from the safety of the seated area to remonstrate nose to nose with the protesters.

I took photos and one of Segura’s men challenged me. “I’m a tourist,”  I said. “But I’d like to know what authority you have to tell me whether or not I can take photos.” He insisted I put my camera away.

An English-speaking fan,  obviously concerned about my safety,  kindly advised me to do the same. “They’re Segura’s people,”  he explained. “It could get nasty.”

My confrontation came the same day that the government’s commerce secretary,  Guillermo Moreno,  requested a court order obliging newspapers to give up the names,  addresses and telephone numbers of any journalists who in the past six years have written anything that questions the government’s official inflation figures.

As a resident here I can tell you that the official inflation figures are as reliable as a Premiership manager announcing the day before an international friendly that his star player is injured.

The move is a blatant infringement of the freedom of the media and both the opposition and several international bodies have said so. I’m not suggesting for one moment that my little confrontation ranks as an attack on my liberty. But it does demonstrate a sensitivity to criticism by many in authority here.

One thing I must say however is that despite the nose-to-nose,  bulging eyeball nature of some of the arguments I saw,  there was no violence.

Gorosito. Unpopular choice...

I’ve no doubt that similar confrontations in Britain would have produced a fist fight. But Argentine men – for you rarely see women in these situations – seem to possess the admirable ability to pull away at the point when you feel violence must be inevitable.

I don’t find this a violent society but most porteños,  or Buenos Aires residents,  would disagree. They’d have you believe the city is a cross between Mogadishu and Baghdad.

It’s a question,  I guess,  of perception.  Buenos Aires has its share of violent,  drug-induced crime. Men beat their wives,  police have been known to hit their prisoners and newspapers carry regular tales of thieves opening fire on their victims. Of course,  it’s also got its dodgy neighbourhoods and places you’d be advised to avoid after dark.

But it’s no worse than many similar sized cities around the world and in many aspects a good deal better. I’d certainly rank it as generally safer than most of the other Latin American capitals I’ve been to.

I met a Glaswegian the other day who pretty much agreed with me. And he lives in the less than reputable La Boca neighbourhood where he comes and goes and is greeted by the locals. He admitted to not being a stereotypical Glaswegian hard man and was surprised when we suggested that with his bald head and confident manner,  the locals might be wary of him.

No Victory in Sight...

I don’t want to tempt fate but I’ve never had any problems in Buenos Aires either. I’ve never had to call on my judo yellow belt with two red stripes and would probably,  if I were cornered,  hand over my wallet to a gang of brownies wielding chocolate chip cookies.

I did,  in second year primary school,  lash out in a fit of panic when confronted by playground bully,  Tommy Ford,  and luckily caught him full in the solar plexus. He never touched me again. Neither did anyone else since the perception circulated that I was not to be messed with.

My ill-deserved reputation had waned when many years later I was confronted by knife-wielding muggers in Georgetown,  Guyana,  who ripped off my wedding ring and a small chunk of finger and emptied my pockets. “Tommy Ford!” I muttered. But it did no good.

There are several reasons that might explain why porteños believe they live in a city that is more dangerous than it is. The media for one carries a daily diet of crime stories that wouldn’t have made it into my former local newspaper,  the Hackney Gazette.

I had to stop reading the local rag since it unnerved me to know that the petrol station I’d filled my tank at was held up at gunpoint ten minutes after I’d been there or the bloke three behind me in the queue at the supermarket had stabbed the cashier in a row over the validity of a 30p off baked beans coupon.

Also,  those who have in this city tend to live very far from those who don’t have much. I’ve met plenty who never travel by public transport. They send their kids to well protected schools distant from the poorer neighbourhoods and have only a distorted notion of what goes on in those dark and undesirable communities.

Despite the minor challenge to my freedom to take photographs,  I’d still hold that most Argentine first division football stadiums are fairly safe places which I know is not a perception shared by many residents here.

Anyway,  enough waffling from me. Back to the full mid-week football programme. Boca consolidated their top spot with a 1-0 win over Estudiantes while Racing moved into second place with the same scoreline against Newell’s Old Boys.

There were 1-1 draws in the games between Banfield and Olimpo and Godoy Cruz and Union while the matches between Colon and San Martin and Belgrano and Lanus were both goalless. All Boys notched a rare win – 2-1 away at Arsenal while San Lorenzo also won 2-1 away,  at Velez. And Independiente improved enormously since I saw them last week to beat Rafaela 3-1 away.

So Argentinos Juniors still without a win after eight games and in crisis. Our next opponents? At home to top team Boca Juniors on Sunday.